Baltimore is experiencing record high levels of murder even as liberals deny “the Ferguson effect,” the theory that crime is soaring because police are being intimidated from doing their job properly as a results of anti-cop movements and statements from government officials.
Here are the stats from Baltimore:
Another round of homicides over the weekend in Baltimore — and the death of a student stabbed last month in a school classroom — pushed the total number of killings this year to 336, the second-highest total on record.
Given that the city has many fewer residents now than in the 1990s, this year’s toll already represents the highest per-capita homicide rate in Baltimore history. The city hit that mark last month.
The only year with more homicide deaths was 1993, when there were 353 killings but also about 100,000 more residents.
The latest list of victims provided by Baltimore police includes two men stabbed to death downtown — the first killings in the downtown area this year — as well as a 1-year-old who was killed Dec. 16.
Police identified Antwan Turner, 19, and Brandon Holland, 28, as the two men stabbed to death early Sunday in the 300 block of N. Calvert St. They identified the 1-year-old boy as Brandon Washington of the 700 block of E. 23rd St., and announced they had arrested Timothy Dunbar, 23, of the same address and charged him with second-degree murder in the boy’s death.
And further on…
The city’s per-capita homicide rate now is 54 per 100,000 residents, the highest ever. In 1993, the rate was 48.8 per 100,000 residents.
With its 336th homicide of the year, Baltimore surpassed the total in 1992, when there were 335 killings.
Now this is not the case across the board. In about half of the larger cities, crime is up, and in the other half, crime is steady or lower. And, over the last 20 years, crime in America generally is in the record lows.